SIMOG scores BUA high on sugar industry BIP implementation

Lafiagi Sugar Company (LASUCO), the 20, 000 hectares sugar estate owned by BUA Group has been rated highly in the recently concluded “Sugar Industry Backward Integration Monitoring round” by the Sugar Industry Monitoring Group – a peer review mechanism setup by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) to monitor progress and implementation of the Backward Integration Policy of the Sugar Industry in Nigeria.

The team which comprised of all players in the industry as well as representatives of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), and FMITI visited all the BIP sites being run by BUA, Dangote and Golden Sugar.

Addressing the team at Lafiagi, Ibrahim Yaro, Managing Director, BUA Sugar, accompanied by the General Manager, LASUCO, Abdulrasheed Olayiwola stated that BUA has made considerable progress in the past few months. According to him, more than 38 kilometers of new roads around the plantation have been added; 1650 hectares of land fully developed as at May, 67 housing units completed and over 1,000 seasonal workers employed – number which is set to increase in coming months.

In their response, the SIMOG delegation expressed delight at the unprecedented progress made at the $300 million plantation. They also express confidence in BUA’s continued investment in the BIP project to help Nigeria achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production.

It should be noted that BUA recently signed an agreement with the Federal Government and the NSDC on the second phase of the Nigerian Sugar BIP.

Lafiagi Sugar Company is a subsidiary of BUA Group situated in Lafiagi, Kwara State, Nigeria. The Sugar Estate is the Group’s premier BIP site in the Nigeria Sugar Masterplan. When fully on stream, the Lafiagi Sugar estate is expected to produce about 1.5 million metric tonnes of raw sugar annually, 25million litres of ethanol, generate 35megawatt of electricity and create employment opportunities for over 15,000 people directly and indirectly.